Apparatus for making painted window-shade material



J. P. WHITMORE.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAINTED WINDOW SHADE MATERIAL.

I APPLICATION FILED FEB. l3i 1920- 1,407,241 Patented Feb. 21, 1922.

JOHN P. WHITMORE, OF SOUTH PASADENA, CALIFORNIA.

. APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAINTED WINDOW-SHADE MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 21, 1922.

Application filed February 13, 1920. Serial No. 358,458.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN P. WHITMORE, acitizen of the United States,'residing at South Pasadena, in theQcountyof Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Makin Painted Window-Shade Material, of wrich the following is a specification. I This invention relates toimprovements in apparatus for applying opaque paint to paper so as toproduce shade material such as disclosed in atent No. 1,322,855, grantedto me November 25th, 1919, and the main object of the present inventionis to provide for improved distribution of the paint on the shadematerial, and for moreefl"ec tive control of the feeding of the shadematerial.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of my invention, andreferring thereto:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the doc tor devices;

Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of the slip drive means for winding up theparting strips;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the finished shade material.

The apparatus shown in the drawing comprises means 1 for rotatablysupporting a roll a of paper suitable for formin the body of the shadematerial, ide ro lers 2, 3, 4 and 5 over which sai paper is guided fromsaid roll into a tank 6 containing a suitable paint, and means fordrawing the paper from said tank and maintaining it exposed to the airand under suitable tension in such manner as to ensure drying of thepaint and delivery of the paper 1n a smooth uniform roll. For thispurpose I prefer to provide a drying tower 7 extending above paint tank6 and havln a feed roller 8 in its upper portlon, over w lch the papersheet or strip 6 passes, said strip passing under a roller 9 immersed intank 6 and then upwardly through a vertical casing 10 and over roller 8,and then down to a suitable winding up roller or drum 11. The hei ht oftower 7 should be sufficient to permit t e paper to become substantiallydry bythe time it reachesthe roller 11. To assist in such dryingoperation, adraft or current of air may be maintained in caslng 10 byblower 12, having nozzles 13 discharging air upwardly on each side ofthe strip 12 of paper. Suitable means, such as doctorv strips or blades14 and 15, are provided for removmg excess paint from the paper sheet,said means extending on opposite sides of the or arranged at differentlevels and extending in dliferent horizontal planes in such manner so asto slightly overlap and produce a tension on the sheet. The outer endsof the doctor blades are rounded or convex, as shown, so as to smoothlypress and wipe the paint in distinction to scraping the paint, thisbeing very desirable when paper is used as the shade material. of shadecloth, knife edged doctor blades are generally used, which scrape offthe paint from the surface and cause the interstices to be filled upeven with the outer surface, but,

In the casesheet directly above tank 6 and being offset as paperpresents no interstices, it is not manner and at the same time leavesufiicient paint on the paper to give the desired finish. Thisdifficulty is overcome by having round edged doctor blades which wipeand smooth the paint without removing too much of it from the surface.Brushes 16 and 17 are provided above the doctor blades on opposite sidesof sheet 6 to smooth off the coating of paint. Suitable means, such asmotor 19, having driving connections 20 and 21, is provided for drivingthe feed roller 8, and said motor is also connected'by drivingconnection 21 to the roller 5 in such ma ner that rollers 5 and 8 feedthe paper sheet at the same speed, thereby eliminating any undue strainon the paper after application of the paint thereto by reason of thetension required to unwind the paper from the roll a and over the rolls2, 3 and 4. By thus drawing the paper strip or sheet at uniform speed ata point before it enters the paint and at the upper part of the dryinportion of the sheet, I avoid uneven stretc ing and straining of thepaper. Motor 19 is also connected by pulley and belt connections 46 to ashaft 48 operatin a variable speed mechanism for driving t e wind uproller 11 at such speed as to keep the shade material slack after itpasses the feed roller 8 but prevent it from sagging to the floor. Forthis purpose shaft 48 may carry a friction disk 49 engaged by a frictionroller 50 splined to a shaft 51 and movable along the shaft 51 by meansof a controlling lever 52,

manually operated to vary the distance of roller 50 from the center ofthe disk 49 and to thereby vary thespeed of shaft 51 and of the roller11 connected to said shaft by gearing 53.

In order to enable the feed roller 8 to feed the paper sheet I) it isnecessary to provide a presser roll .or nip roll, indicated at 23,rotatably mounted, for example, on a vertically swinging frame 26, so asto exert pressure on the paper I) by the weight of said roller andframe, assisted, if necessary, by suitable spring means. I have foundthat there is a tendency for the paint to offset or transfer from thepaper I) to the feed roller 8 at parts which are subjected to suchpressure, and to prevent this I providea dead sheet or parting strip 27supplied from a roll 29 and passing between sheet and roller 8 and asimilar parting strip 28 supplied from a roll 30 and passing betweensheet I) and nip roller 23, said sheets passing eventually to receivingmeans consisting of rolls 32 and 33 on. which they are wound incondition for reuse. In order to wind the strips 27 and 28 on the rolls32 and 33, the latter may i be rotated through slip-drive connectionsfrom the shaft 8' of roller 8, for example, as shown in Fig. 3, in thecase of roller 32, by a belt 34 having tightener 34' anddriven by apulley 42 which is driven by belt connection 43 from a pulley 4 1 on theshaft of the roller 8. The parting strips 27 and 28 may be only as wideas the nip roller .25, which may extend over only the middle portion ofthe paper sheet 5 and feed roller 8.

In case the apparatus is used for making paper shade materialre-enforced at the edges, I may provide a tape feeding device at eachedge of the sheet 5 comprising feed rollers 35 feeding gummed tape 0from reels d to a moistening roller 36 from which the tape passes intocontact with the paper sheet 5 against which it is pressed by roller.37. .If desired, a re-enforcing thread or filament e may be suppliedfrom a reel f, and pass between sheet 5 and each of the tapes 0, beingsecured in position by-the gum that holds the tape in place.

My process maybe carried out in the above described apparatus asfollows:

The paper sheet 5 is drawn from roll a over guide rollers 2 to 5 andunder roller 9 in tank 6, and then up through casing 10 and over feedroller 8 and then down to the winding up roll 11. In passing throughtank 6 the sheet 5 becomes coated on both sides with opaque paint, takenup from a body of paint indicated at g in said tank, the excess of paintbeing wiped off by the roller 25, it is separated from said rollers bythe dead sheets or parting strips 27 and 28, respectively,so that thepaint does not offset on to said rollers, and the coat of paint ismaintained in smooth uniform condition. In case the re-enforcin tapesare to be applied to' the shade materlal, said tapes are drawn alongwith said material, after being moistened, and are pressed down on theshade material to adhere to same, the coating of paint being appliedover said re-enforcing tapes in obvious manner. The re-enforcing threads6 are applied at the same timeand are held in place by the gum thatholds the paper tapes 0 in osition.

By the above described operat1on,'a finished shade material is producedsuch as is disclosed in my Letters Patent aforesaid, and shown inpartial section in Fig. 4.

What I claim is: I

1. In an apparatus for painting shade material, the combination withmeans for sup- 2. In an apparatus for painting shade ma-.

terial, a feed roller for drawing the painted shade material forward, apresser roller for pressing on the shade material to ensure feedingthereof, means for supplying a parting strip between the shade materialand one of the said rollers, and means for winding up the parting stripincluding a slipdrive to prevent undue strain on the parting strip.

3. In an apparatus for painting shade material, a feed roller adapted tofeed the painted shade material upwardly and then downwardly, and meansfor winding up the painted shade material comprising a roller adapted toreceive the shade material fed downwardly from the feed roller andprovided with variable speed driving means.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 4th day ofFebruary, 1920.

JOHN P. w-HiTMoRE.

so I

